Tubular radiator



F. H. STOLP. TUBULAR RADIATOR. APPLICATION FILED AUG-26, 1918.

Patented Nov. 16, 1920.

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ZQ'MTTORNEYS UNITED STATES. PATENT OFT-ICE.

I FRANK H. STOLP, or GENEVA, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO STOLP COMPANY, INCORPO- RATED, 013 GENEVA, NEW YORK, CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TUBULAR RADIATOR.

Application filed August 26, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK H. STOLP, a citizen of the United States, residing at Geneva, in the county of Ontario and state of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tubular Radiators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to the transfer of heat in fluids, and more particularly to radiators or boilers of the tubular type, and the invention has for its object to provide a simple, cheap, and eflicient form of tubular radiator, or boiler, which will not require the use of a crown sheet, and in which the component tubes will not be weakened at any point, or in any way, as the result of their assemblage with one another, or the treatment undergone to prepare them for such assemblage. A further object of the invention is to provide a radiator that will offer maximum circulating spaces and surfaces of radiation per unit of mass. To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view through a radiator constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of my invention,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on the line 2'2 of Fig. 1,.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is an end view, and

Fig. 5 is an end view of one of the tubular units.

Similar reference numerals in the several views indicate the same parts.

My invention is applicable to the kind of radiator employed in the cooling systems of internal combustion engines, where air is the cooling element that circulates through the tubes to take the radiation of the fluid body that circulates around the tubes and in turn takes the radiation from Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 16, 1920.

Serial No. 251,364.

the explosion chamber, but it will be understood that at the outset the invention lies in the construction and not in the use of the device, and it is immaterial, therefore, which course either the absorbing or radiating agency takes, and therefore the invention is applicable to boilers as well. I will, however, for convenience, describe the present embodiment of the invention as intended for use as an automobile radiator.

The radiator preferably consists of a plurality of tubes of the form shown in Fig. 5. Their opposite ends are hexagonal, as'indicated at 1, while their intermediate portions indicated at 2 have the cross sectional outline of a rhombus, or similar figure, the extreme diameter of which may be greater than the extreme diameter of the hexagonal ends, though the mean diameter is less than the mean diameter of the hexagonal ends. Thus, by assembling the tubes, as shown in the figures, with the flat faces of the hexagonal ends all in intimate contact with each other, the said ends may be soldered, or otherwise directly secured together, to make a fluid-tight joint with each tube end lying against all adjacent tubes on all sides thereof. This provides a larger water space between the intermediate portions 2, as indicated at 3, in proportion to the radiating surface exposed, than has hitherto been possible, and at no point do the tubes contact, except at their ends. There are other pairs of shapes for the intermediate and end portions of the tube that may be utilized within the scope of my invention, but the ones illustrated give the best results in view of all considerations so far as I am at present advised. In any case it is important that the conformations of the intermediate and end portions of the tubes shall fulfil one condition in their relationship, and that is, that the cross sectional figure of one shall have the same perimeter as that of the other. This is for the following reason.

It has heretofore been the practice in ra diators of this kind to expand the ends of the tubes into contact in order to carry the, intermediate portions out of contact and provide the circulating space. Whether this is done, or, conversely, the intermediate portions are crimped, or reduced, the tubes are weakened because the material thereof is stretched or distorted, and it often happens that splits occur in the tubes as the result of the straining of the metal in the expanding or contracting operation. In the prac tice of my invention, and in utilizing the shapes above described, I arrange not to affect the structure or internal condition of the metal of the tubes at any point, but instead, I simply change the shape of one part of the tube without changing its size. In other Words its peripheral area per unit in length is neither increased or diminished. Its shape alone is altered. Thus, I may take a diamond-shaped tube and insert a mandrel in its ends that will convert the latter to hexagons, if the mandrel is the right size, and notstretch the metal in the process, or (as I prefer) I may take a hexagonal tube and flatten its intermediate portion of the diamond'sl1aped form with the same advantageous result.

As before stated, the shapes shown, give a large air capacity through the tubes, and a large water passage around the tubes, while other shapes are apt to increase one at the expense of the other. A large water circulating space around the tubes has heretofore been difficult of attainment because the deleterious expanding operation on the ends of the tubes was necessarily carried on in direct proportion.

Having described my invention what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A tubular radiator comprising a plurality of parallel tubes having their ends con nected together in afluid-tight manner with all sides of each tube end directly secured to the sides of the ends of adjacent tubes, and the intermediate portions of the tubes separated from each other, to form a circulating space, the said end and intermediate portions respectively being differently shaped in cross section, without distortion or compression of the mass of the material used, but of the same perimeter.

2. A tubular radiator comprising a pluralityof parallel tubes having their ends connected together in a fluid-tight manner with all sides of each tube end directly secured to the sides of the ends of adjacent tubes, and the intermediateportions of the tubes separated from each other to form a circulating space, the said end portions of each tube having the cross sectional form of an equilateral polygon and the intermediate portion that of a rhombus.

FRANK H. STOLP. 

